Thank you all for a warm welcome - I appreciate it. Keep in mind I'm a major novice...

BobTop -

I'll check out Techntoys too. I've heard of most of those mods....do you recommend doing them before really learning how to fly? I understand the soda can shim mod. Is the blade balancing just a weight checking? I read most of this long thread and I don't know what the dogbone guide mod is. Any info anyone can provide on that - I'd appreciate. Edit - will check reply from tigertoo later in thread.

Tigertoo -

I agree that both spare motors would be smart to order now....somehow just popping around in the basement I already managed to break one of the upturns on the skid. I'll add the other parts as well. I'm guessing the whole tail assembly includes the tail motor?

--- following up on Tiggertoo's post on chargers. I saw some good chargers that balance cells. What I don't get is what kind to buy. I saw the AccuCell referenced earlier in the thread - but I don't understand how the two prongs that come out of the AccuCell can be used with what I can only assume is a proprietary 3 wire plug on the charging part of the stock battery.

I think I saw earlier in this thread that someone went to a SS skid that will survive my inadequacies.....going to search for that now....and get those skid bumpers on order....

Here is what I know....I suck at flying this helicopter - but I'm having fun trying to learn.

Cheers,
GV

Grumpy, the dogbone guides are at the bottom of the main rotor head, they are the flimsy loops that are around the dogbone links. they have been known to give up without reason. take a paperclip, one loop of the paperclip fits nicely, carefully bend it to follow the loops, solder the ends together and then a bit of 5 min epoxy or ca glueing it finishes that (keep the glue on the outside of the loop). Shimming the blade grips takes the sloppy 'feel' outta flights. yes, the main blades are weighed to balance them, unless you got a nice helo blade balancer. with the flybar, detach the dogbone links from it and check it is level (i switch it 45 and 90 and 180 degrees to be sure it is not heavy on 1 side or binding) i had to ca a wee bit of solder to the light flybar weight. DONT be sad that your skids failed, seems they do that often, especially in the colder climate. check back a few pages, i posted a landing gear mod thats CHEAP and survives even falls from 25 feet. (and the pontoons look rather fetching too)
Dont be sad you arent a pro flier, you got a heli that can take the abuse of the 'learning curve'. I never flew a copter before early dec '12. i went from TOY coaxial, to WLtoys v911, to the '45 in under 30 days. if i can do it, so can you mate. best advice is to try to not fly in winds over 3 mph until you are confident of your skills. practice hovering, then circles, then loops and figure 8's. this copter LIKES open spaces, it can 'crab' 20 feet in a turn EASILY. once you are more confident, winds to 7-10 mph can be alot of fun. i fly uprange on windy days and then 'fly' as the wind works the bird back to me.
main thing is ENJOY
cheers, Bob

It's a foggy but mostly windless day here in my neck of the suburban woods. I managed to get in some great flying time today and as luck had it, I have a sweet crash report. I got the crash on the belly camera but unfortunately I didn't get a shot of what the helicopter looked like completely jam-packed full of snow. I hope you all enjoy the video....

Hey to all here including new guys. I've been laying low with no parts, when today in the mail was a new tail minus supporting rods and both horizontal and vertical fin broken in shipping box plus bag, but got crushed enough to break those two pieces. I just used my the other ones. The $10.99 E Bay Tail does have the under horz stab piece to connect to supports on bottom under fin, a plus, Thank God. Anyway I did a short hover and it seemed all well, and tried 60% rudder, not sure about that. I need to fly it at the field for that. Was hoping HK Turnigy 2000mah would be here because stock was getting low after 5 min, and you could tell, so no power means crap stock battery for sure. I have not yet put heat sink on tail that I made cuz I ordered the ESKY one. OH YEAH, Y'all give me a yeaa or naye on the pictures. I decided to have the Micro LED HeliPad finished in time for parts no matter what it wound up like because Hey, Why not, You only live ONCE but you get to FLY HELICOPTERS a lot of times, and part of this flying addiction is sharing, especially some photos. I have read this whole thread and you people rock. I sure hope this new battery wakes this bird up, I need more power, especially in FFF!!! ENJOY ScottHeli: D

hey Scott the helipad looks awesome, good to see you are still about
cheers, Bob

Hello all,
Just had my first flight with my F645. What a blast! Seemed so much easier than my DH 9116. Maybe I'm getting the hang of it? Who knows, who cares ....this is just fun!! I did the servo arm mod and added heat sinks to both motors on the MJX. I am about to drill some venting holes in the canopy since the motor did get pretty hot. Has anyone made Zippy 2200mAH's fit? Since it is longer than the OE battery, the canopy will not slide back far enough. Will I just need to cut the "restrictor" tabs off of the battery tray and slide the battery further back? Your advice is always appreciated!

Welkies to the best thread about THE BEST copter for the buck, jwarrior. Yes, the aftermarket batteries require some battery box mods. Thats not such a bad thing as now you can fine tune the C.o.G. (center of gravity). Check the balance by this: with the flybar 90 degrees to the tailboom (and the blades straight out) pick the copter up by the flybar, if the copter tilts foward, it is 'nose heavy' (slide the battery back to compensate)... if the copter is tail heavy, slide the battery foward. Neutral C.o.G. will make flying more predictable.
cheers, Bob

Ha, I did that too....well I didnt break it off, but mine fell out of the heli eater tree and landed on the tail. Broke 2 of the spines on the tail gear... super glued it and flew it till the new tail and boom assy came... noisey bugger, but flew just fine

WooHoo! Airworthy again on the same day! Didn't have any super glue, but had plenty of heavy duty small black zip-ties. A little strategic placement, and I'm all set!

Now if I crash I gotta go "nose-in"... LOL

Hopefully it will hold until the replacements are ordered and delivered.

hi...everyone , i hope i am doing this right???? i was wondering if anyone has had this problem with the f45. It's driving me "NUTS"! It's almost new and has been doing this at hover since day one??? anyone????

Welkies to the best thread about THE BEST copter for the buck, jwarrior. Yes, the aftermarket batteries require some battery box mods. Thats not such a bad thing as now you can fine tune the C.o.G. (center of gravity). Check the balance by this: with the flybar 90 degrees to the tailboom (and the blades straight out) pick the copter up by the flybar, if the copter tilts foward, it is 'nose heavy' (slide the battery back to compensate)... if the copter is tail heavy, slide the battery foward. Neutral C.o.G. will make flying more predictable.
cheers, Bob

hi...everyone , i hope i am doing this right???? i was wondering if anyone has had this problem with the f45. It's driving me "NUTS"! It's almost new and has been doing this at hover since day one??? anyone????

If the tail is bobbing up and down, check the flybar for straightness. If it is straight, check for tight ball links as that will cause bobbing.

just bought this servo http://www.ebay.de/itm/111004679501?...84.m1423.l2649 to replace the jumpy aile servo on Big Bird I. Fits OK but when I plug it in it turns the wrong way . Is there a way to reverse the aileron control on the tx, or to make it turn the other way, or have I just wasted my money?

Although the car went to the graveyard I still have the charger and have always been wondering whether I should get rid of it or if it might come in useful for something .

Cheers
Fin

By the way, does zdawg - or anybody else for that matter - have an answer to my previous question from post #6156?

You can pull the servo apart and reverse the wires on the motor. Nothing to lose if you screw it up and many have done this same thing to reverse servos.

As for the switch question, I did not pay attention to this mod, but it is probably so you can fully bind the heli and then power the ESC so it does not go into programming mode, which often happens if its is power the same time as the PCB.

Why have none of you guys mounted a gopro to yours? I've been running my without the case for a while. But finally got my brushless motor in and this sucker has tons more power. Will lift up my gopro with full waterproof case no problem. Did notice the battery life wasn't so good though. Dont know if the cold had anything to do with it today. The crash video was before the brushless mod, the heli flew just fine after that btw. Just broke the tip off of the landing gear.

Images

Why have none of you guys mounted a gopro to yours? I've been running my without the case for a while. But finally got my brushless motor in and this sucker has tons more power. Will lift up my gopro with full waterproof case no problem. Did notice the battery life wasn't so good though. Dont know if the cold had anything to do with it today. The crash video was before the brushless mod, the heli flew just fine after that btw. Just broke the tip off of the landing gear.

That is an emergency power pack, if memory serves me correctly, consisting of a battery and its associated gear (charger/monitor ect). That is an excellent source of +12 for r/c chargers. Back in the old days I used the same setup with off-road r/c cars. (dont forget to charge it back up after a nice day flyin...)

Why have none of you guys mounted a gopro to yours? I've been running my without the case for a while. But finally got my brushless motor in and this sucker has tons more power. Will lift up my gopro with full waterproof case no problem. Did notice the battery life wasn't so good though. Dont know if the cold had anything to do with it today. The crash video was before the brushless mod, the heli flew just fine after that btw. Just broke the tip off of the landing gear.